About the maestra:

My name is Ali and I am a contemplative INFJ-T ambivert, tireless over-thinker, and zealous promoter of empathic peace and justice in the world. Professionally, I am a full-time K-12 foreign language teacher specializing in two Ibero-Romance languages, Spanish and Portuguese. Domestically, I am a wife and mother of two under two. In my younger years, I led a cluttered maximalist life. I discovered minimalism in my mid twenties after the birth of my first child. Where most new parents usually turn a maximalist leaf, loading up on all of the nonessential baby gear, inordinately large SUVS, and even larger homes, parenthood is what brought me to a point of transition from an excessively maximalist lifestyle to an efficiently minimalist one. Although I am a minimalist in many ways, writing isn't one of them. As a language teacher and enthusiast, I relish the richness of words and sentence structures, so you'll find my blogposts to be elaborative bodies of text that, while focused on developing a specific proposition, are anything but concise.

About the blog:

After years of contemplation and many fruitless attempts to create an online venue for thoughts, against my better judgement, I haphazardly launched this blog in May of 2017 with a post on my minimalist cleaning routine. This post was so much more than just a cleaning routine; it was raw with cathartic release, unashamed honesty, and an attitude of mindfulness. I saw great relief in posting my thoughts and so another post was soon to follow, and then another, and, well, here we are in the middle of the blogosphere.

This is a lifestyle blog with a minimalist undercurrent. This is where I develop my thoughts on what minimalism looks like for my family and me. It's also a place to share recipes, reflections on motherhood, homemaking tips, makeup tutorials, and interior design projects.

Fun Facts:

I am a graduate school dropout. I've always fancied the impractical, undervalued life of a scholar and almost pursued a doctorate in Iberian Peninsular Literature. Although my heart told me "yes," reality told me "no" and I listened. By no means has this stopped me from satisfying my intellectual needs; as a self-regulated learner, I'm constantly reading quality academic scholarship (usually on nutrigenomics, psychology, philosophy, and the humanities) for the sake of personal enrichment and development.

I travelled to Europe by myself at age 14 and again at age 16 (with the blessing of my family, of course).

I have a strong penchant for Korean cuisine and keep my favorite recipes in my family's meal-planning rotation. You can learn how to prepare my favorite dish here.

Despite having weak math skills (compared to my language arts skills), I have an inexplicable knack for chemistry and attained one of the highest marks in my Honors Chemistry class, an achievement of which I am still proud.

I'm a self-taught makeup artist since the age of 18. However, I'm too timorous to turn my passion for makeup application and artistry into a secondary career, so I apply my family's and friends' makeup free of charge by request for special events.

My mother is a Cuban refugee, my father is a Portuguese immigrant, and I was born and raised in Miami.